The Naked Festival, also known as Hadaka Matsuri, is celebrated in the Saidaiji Kannonin Temple in the Okayama prefecture

The event is observed on the third Saturday of every February, 30 minutes away from the city

Though the festival's name implies that participants are naked, all the men wear a bit of clothing

Each participant wears a “fundoshi” and a “tabi,” a Japanese loincloth and white socks

All of this close contact has made many fearful of the possibility of infection from COVID-19

Participants this year were not advised to wear face masks but were provided with hand sanitizers

The festival is meant to celebrate prosperity and fertility

The event begins at 3:20 p.m. with an activity for young boys

While waiting for the main event, the men run around for a couple of hours

Some of them soak in cold water to purify themselves

Traditional dancers and female drummers perform before a firework event at 7 p.m.

Villagers also open their stores at the shopping street, Gofuku-dori

At 10 p.m., a priest from the temple throws two shingi sticks and 100 bundles of twigs into the crowd

The priest does this from a window above them, about four meters high

The shingi sticks, around 20 centimeters long, are supposed to be lucky

It is said that the men who find these two sticks during the event become the luckiest men of the year

Once the priest throws the sticks into the crowd, all the men start scrambling to find them

Because there isn't much space for the 10,000 men to move around, some participants get injured

These injuries range from small wounds to painful sprains

Participants come alone or in a group, representing themselves or their companies

Even foreign tourists come to the temple to take part in the festival

The Naked Festival has experienced many changes since it began in the Muromachi Period, around 500 years ago

Back then, villagers would go to the same temple to receive paper talismans from a priest

The popularity of the paper talismans grew until the number of attendees increased as well

Because so many people wanted the talismans, the paper would rip and their clothes would give them a difficult time

This led to the temple's decision to use wood and get rid of clothing

In 2016, Japan designated the Naked Festival as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Asset

Intangible Cultural Properties are assets that are historically or artistically valuable to the country

Those who are considered masters of a certain artistry technique or holders of the property are taken care of by the government

Japan provides them with special grants and pays for successors to be trained in order to keep the tradition alive

The Naked Festival in Okayama is but one of many Japanese naked festivals

The Yotsukaido, also attended by men in February, is celebrated in the Chiba prefecture

Participants of that festival fight in loincloths and carry children through mud as a form of exorcism